Automotive safety seats are well-known in the art of protection of a child from injury in the event of an impact and are mandated by law. A child automotive safety seat generally includes a rigid bucket seat with various types of protective padding. An undercarriage connected to the bucket safety seat is secured to the motor vehicle by means of straps and quick release buckles connected to the surface of the vehicle. Other straps and quick release buckles connected to the bucket seat hold the child in the safety seat. Such motor vehicle safety seats accommodate a range of ages of young children.
Life preserving devices for infants and young children on water craft are considered by many experts in the field to be only marginally dependable. The smallest life preserver now approved by the U.S. Coast Guard for children is merely a smaller version of the adult life preserver with an extension of the preserver floatation material from the shoulder area to the head area. The purpose of the extension is to provide additional floatation protection for a small child's head so as to keep it above the surface of the water and so protect the child from intake of water. Such a safety device is useful when the child is in an infant stage and cannot be placed in a standard child safety seat and so must be constantly cared for by an adult, but an older or more active child is better cared for in a conventional child seat comparable to a standard child automotive safety seat so that the adult can attend to other activities aboard the vessel.
Complete protection of a child aboard a water craft, such as a motor boat or sail boat, as typical examples, would include both 1) protecting the child from being injured from shock during quick movements of the boat in the case of movements in rough water, and 2) protecting the child from the water in the event of an emergency where the child enters the water, Protection of an adult or a child from quick movements of the boat by various types of shock-absorbing seating devices on the boat including child safety seats are well-known.
Floatable safety seats for a child in a marine environment are known. In particular, such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,020 issued to Gainforth. The Gainforth buoyant child safety seat for boats, however, cannot be transferred to a motor vehicle for the reason that the bottom of the described safety seat is provided with ballast stands with ballast weights that prevent the safety seat from being placed upon and secured to the seat of a motor vehicle. Another floatable safety seat for a child is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,253 issued to Politte. The Politte infant safety flotation seat device cannot be used in a motor vehicle since it cannot be placed upon and secured to the seat of a motor vehicle primarily because of metal weights, or ballast, near the bottom of the safety seat. Child safety seats particularly intended for marine use have been described in prior art, such as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,709,648; 4,934,303; 5,119,754; and 5,309,881; but none of the latter describe floatation capability.
Protection of a child from injury during rough water conditions in a marine environment and protection of a child from injury in the event of an impact in a motor vehicle are similar enough that the same shock and cushion protection in accordance with mandated child motor vehicle safety seats will provide a child from sudden movement in a marine environment. Child safety seats mandated for motor vehicles, however, are provided neither with floatation material nor with ballast.